Friday, May 16, 2008

Part II of the allegations against Tara Levicy and Duke University Medical Center; researched and complied from the NC AG Summary of Conclusions, NC State Bar files, Court Motions, Depositions, News articles, Professor KC Johnson analysis, and from the two civil complaints filed in Federal court against multiple defendants including Levicy and DUMC. The author is sceptical, a well known and respected Blog Hooligan.

Initial SBI Test Results Highly Exculpatory

623. Upon information and belief, on March 28, 2006, Himan notified Nifong and the Durham Police Supervising Defendants that the SBI Lab tests would produce no DNA match between Mangum’s rape kit and any member of the lacrosse team.

624. On March 28, 2006, at 10:40 p.m., Himan spoke with Mangum about the case and, upon information and belief, about the negative DNA test results. Himan concealed the fact of this conversation by not reporting the existence of it in his investigative notes. Upon information and belief, Himan told Mangum that there would be no match and the obvious consequences that fact had upon the viability of the case.(623-624. Ekstrand amended complaint -McFadyen et al v. Duke at al)

Levicy Changes Medical Records Around March 30, 2006 Durham DA Nifong received a second report from the SBI that again showed no DNA from any of the lacrosse players on the accuser Crystal Mangum’s rape kit or clothing, but did show DNA on a towel found in the house. The Cooper lawsuit (Carrington et al v. Duke et al) states, “… the DNA finding from the towel was communicated to Levicy, who (as recounted below) later doctored her SANE exam report to include an allegation that the alleged rapists ‘wiped [Mangum] off with a rag’ “ (C 311).

After the second report of DNA results came back negative, the next day (March 31) Nifong started suggesting in public statements that condoms may have been used (C 331). Duke University Medical Center (DUMC) officials and Levicy knew this was false from Mangum’s repeated statements that condoms were not used, yet they did not correct this false impression. Indeed, Levicy later altered her account of Mangum’s story to allow for the possibility of condoms (C 313).

This is just one example of the fact that, as the Cooper lawsuit points out, “by March 31, in addition to critical evidence of the players’ innocence, Duke had abundant information revealing that the rape investigation of Nifong and Durham police authorities was not proceeding in good faith against its students“ (C 332).

Duke and DUMC had in their hands by that time Duke Police Officer Day’s report that the Durham investigating officers on March 13-14 did not find Mangum’s allegations credible; from Duke’s medical records, it was clear that no physical evidence supported the rape allegations, use of condoms, or choking or strangling of the accuser; and the DNA evidence contradicted a violent vaginal, oral and anal rape without the use of condoms.

Yet Levicy, DUMC and Duke University withheld the exculpatory evidence it had, including Mangum’s medical records showing no objective signs of rape and the reports of Officer Day and other Duke police questioning Mangum’s credibility.

Furthermore, Theresa Arico, the SANE program director and Levicy’s supervisor, gave an interview to the Herald Sun on April 1. In the interview, Arico, who was not present at Mangum’s exam, said, “you can say with a high degree of certainty that there was a certain amount of blunt force trauma to create injury” (E 783). She noted that “blunt force trauma” is diagnosed using a colposcope during a pelvic exam. However, Mangum was not examined by Dr. Manly with a colposcope. “Arico thus knew or should have known that Levicy had not herself performed the exam, that a colposcope had not been used, and that the exam report contained no finding or physical or medical evidence of “blunt force trauma” to Mangum” (C 335).

In the same interview, Arico also stated, “I can reasonably say these injuries are consistent with the stories she told” (C 336). KC Johnson commented;” In the article, Arico left unclear whether she was talking about Mangum specifically or about sexual assault patients in general. According to a memorandum of law penned by its chief attorney, Al McSurely, and posted on its website last August, the state NAACP interpreted the statement as referring to Mangum. Arico appears to have taken no steps to remove the information if she considered it false…” (10)

Rather than correcting the false statements by Levicy suggesting there was medical evidence of a sexual assault in Duke’s possession, these published comments by Arico promoted Levicy’s false claims to Durham police and prosecutors about Mangum’s exam.

On April 5, Duke University Hospital finally produced Mangum’s medical records to Nifong, although DUMC had been served with a subpoena back on March 21. Prior to April 5, all of Nifong’s comments about medical evidence in the case had solely been based on Levicy’s misleading statements to the Durham police since he did not have access to the actual medical records. The reason for the delay in delivering the records is not known, but the delay allowed Levicy to allegedly make certain changes in the SANE report.

“In the intervening time, Levicy re-created those portions of the SAER that were not completed on March 14th after the SAE was abandoned,” according to the Ekstrand suit (E 785).

Levicy was reported to have improperly made a number of changes and additions to the history part of the SANE report to make Mangum’s story as presented in the report consistent with new information obtained by the police after March 14, and also to conform to Mangum’s written statement to the police on April 6.

According to the Cooper lawsuit, “Levicy had deliberately falsified the version of the SANE report that Duke Hospital produced to Nifong on April 5. The doctored version she produced,” the suit alleges,“ … included multiple strike-outs and addenda that attempted to render her report inculpatory in light of what Levicy understood to the evidence at the time. For example, in the notation about whether the alleged rapists had sought to conceal evidence, Levicy had initially entered ‘no.’ In the version produced on April 5, however, this was crossed out, and ‘yes’ was indicated, with a handwritten notation ‘wiped her off with a rag’.” (C 341).

These changes in the SANE report were improper for at least 3 reasons. First, normally no late alterations in the SAER are allowed; after preparation on the day of the exam, the report is usually sealed in an envelope and delivered to law enforcement. Second, any changes in nursing records of any kind are required to be dated and initialed. Finally, changing a SANE report to fit new versions of an accuser’s story is highly unethical and potentially illegal (alteration of evidence in a criminal case).

SANE are supposed to be neutral collectors of evidence; police and courts rely on their objectivity. Experienced SANEs have commented that late changes in an SAER and accompanying nursing notes are “staggering” and beyond normal SANE policies and procedures.

Levicy and Duke Bolster Nifong’s False Prosecution

As the exculpatory DNA evidence became public, Nifong and the Durham police investigators kept insisting that there was medical evidence supporting the rape allegations. This reliance on the false conclusions of Levicy played an important role in the indictment of lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty on April 17. Sgt. Gottlieb testified before the grand jury that Mangum’s exam at Duke confirmed the rape allegations. Later, referring to his grand jury appearance, Gottlieb stated: “I believe there was corroborating evidence. Meaning the SANE nurse said the victim’s accounts of the attack were consistent with the sexual assault… You have a SANE nurse who is backing up that person’s (Mangum) statements” (C398). Later, on May 15, Dave Evans, was also indicted by the grand jury based on testimony by Inv. Ben Himan.

According to KC Johnson: “After the three indictments, Levicy remained the key medical figure in the case. As Nifong continued to ignore Manly, on June 9, Levicy and Arico traveled to the district attorney’s office for a 9.00 a.m. private meeting to discuss the case. Much like his conversations with [DNA lab director] Dr. Brian Meehan, Nifong produced no memorandum of this.”

“Arico’s presence suggested that even as massive evidence of innocence had emerged—Mangum’s changing stories, the exclusion of all lacrosse players’ DNA from the rape kit—Duke hospital was standing firmly behind Levicy’s work .” (10)

However, no DUMC lawyers were present at the meeting between Levicy, Arico and Nifong, consistent with a lack of supervision by DUMC of its employees involved in what had already become a controversial, publicized legal matter.

As the months went by and Nifong vowed to continue the prosecution of the indicted lacrosse players, even more evidence accumulated that Mangum was lying and that there had not been any sexual assault.

It was revealed that Mangum had previously made unsubstantiated rape allegations against 3 men, that she had been discharged less than honorably from the military, that she had been hospitalized for mental illness, that she had a behavior pattern of falling down and becoming unresponsive under stress, that she worked as a stripper at a men’s club both before and after the lacrosse party, and that she had performed sex acts for pay, including with a vibrator, the weekend before the Monday night lacrosse party.

Furthermore, both Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty had verifiable alibis that placed them away from the lacrosse house during the time of the alleged assault. Dave Evans remained at the house but had witnesses could verify his activities for the entire time.

As Nifong’s case began to fall apart, he continued to insist that the SANE report suggested there had, in fact, been an assault. The North Carolina Bar in its December ethics complaint against Nifong noted, “Nifong stated to a representative of the news media that a rape examination of the victim done at Duke Medical Center the morning of the alleged assault revealed evidence of bruising consistent with a brutal sexual assault,’ with the most likely place that it happened at the lacrosse team party’” (C 459).

According to the Cooper lawsuit, “Levicy actively conspired with the Durham Investigators to prop and to prolong the investigation. She met or conversed multiple times with the Durham Investigators in the ensuing weeks and months, repeatedly adjusting or elaborating her testimony to rebut mounting evidence of innocence as it emerged. Upon information and belief, she conferred with prosecutors and/or police at least seven times during the course of the rape hoax crisis” (C 190).

Blogger KC Johnson stated: “Over the course of the case, Levicy had no fewer than four meetings and three telephone calls with Durham police officers or representatives of the district attorney’s office.” (10)

Notes from Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong confirmed that he had spoken with “Tara” who told him that Mangum’s findings “were consistent with sexual assault emotionally and physically” and with “rape trauma syndrome.” (C 191).

During these months after the indictments, Levicy, Arico, and their superiors at DUMC had to have known, because of the intense media coverage, that the Durham Police and Nifong were using her mischaracterizations of the SANE exam as one of the main rationalizations for their on-going prosecution.

However, not only did Levicy and her superiors fail to come forward to correct her misleading SANE conclusions, Levicy actually sought to bolster the prosecution case as Mangum’s stories changed, as there were new theories of the crime, and as new evidence developed.

As noted above, Levicy improperly amended the SANE report to include mention of a towel that she implied had allegedly been used to wipe Mangum; Levicy had not known on March 14 when the SANE report was filled out that the police had recovered a towel from the party house (which had DNA from Dave Evans and a female not related to the case).

A later episode where Levicy tried to prop up the prosecution is described by Joe Neff in his April 18 News & Examiner article (9):

“On Jan. 10, Wilson and Himan met with Nifong's other critical witness in the case: Tara Levicy, the Duke Hospital nurse who helped examine Mangum in the Duke emergency room the morning after the lacrosse party. Levicy had received special training to become a sexual assault nurse examiner to collect evidence in sexual assault cases. She would have been Nifong's chief witness in corroborating Mangum's claim that a rape had occurred.In March 2006, Levicy told police she found evidence "consistent with a sexual assault."

The Jan. 10 interview focused on the absence of the players' DNA in the rape kit. Levicy had written in her March 14 report -- shortly after the party -- that no condoms were used. On Jan. 10, she hedged, according to Wilson's report: "Ms. Levicy stated she asked if condoms were used and Ms. Mangum said 'no' but wasn't really sure. Ms. Levicy stated that it was her opinion as a [sexual assault nurse examiner] that 'victims can never be sure if condoms are used because if they can't see them how would they know for sure. You can't feel them so you have to realize there is always a possibility that a condom could have been used.' "Even though forensic nurses make medical observations and not legal judgments, Levicy also put forward a second theory: "I wasn't surprised when I heard no DNA was found because rape is not about passion or ejaculation but about power."

A few days later, Levicy called Wilson with second thoughts. She wanted to clarify her statement about rape and power. "Ms. Levicy stated that there are numerous reason [sic] why semen is not found in a victim and include: 1) condoms were used; 2) No ejaculation; 3) It didn't happen."

(Levicy’s “second thoughts” coincided with Nifong’s recusal from the case and its transfer to the NC Attorney General’s office).

Levicy’s speculation in the January 10, 2007 meeting with Wilson and Himan that condoms might have been used contradicted the written records that Mangum denied at least 3 times condoms were involved. Later in the NC Bar hearings against him, Nifong justified his own comments about condoms as “being consistent with the opinion of the SANE nurse who examined the victim the night of the alleged attack” (C 463).

She also misunderstood that DNA identification does not require the presence of semen—any male cells, such as skin cells shed by physical contact, can produce a positive match because the DNA tests are so sensitive. Thus ejaculation is not required for positive DNA tests. This is such basic factual information about DNA testing that any nurse, let alone a SANE, would be expected to understand.

The Special Prosecutors Become Involved

On January 12, 2007 Nifong recused himself from the case because of the NC Bar ethics charges. Attorney General Roy Cooper appointed James Coman and Mary Winstead as Special Prosecutors. Over a 3 month period, the Special Prosecutors exhaustively investigated Mangum charges.

Speaking to representatives of the Special Prosecutors, Levicy again altered her opinions about what happened at the party.

“Soon after Nifong was removed from the case, Levicy met with investigators from the North Carolina Attorney General’s office and conceded, for the first time that it was possible that ‘no attack had occurred.’” (C 466)

On April ll, 2007 Attorney General Cooper dismissed all charges against Evans, Finnerty, and Seligmann and stated that “these three individuals are innocent of these charges.” (2)

A written report later that month blasted Levicy’s conclusions about the SANE exam. The Special Prosecutors had access to all of the medical records in the case. The Attorney General’s report stated, “No medical evidence confirmed [the accuser’s] stories. The SANE based her opinion that the exam was consistent with what the accusing witness was reporting largely on the accusing witness’s demeanor and complaints of pain rather than on objective evidence.” (2)

This statement implies three things. First, the objective findings on Mangum’s physical exam (minor leg scratches from a previous injury and diffuse vaginal swelling) were not suggestive of a brutal rape by three large athletes. Second, the negative DNA findings from the rape kit, which were part of the medical evidence, proved conclusively there had been no physical contact, let alone a rape, between the lacrosse players and Mangum (although DNA from multiple other men was found). Third, Levicy paid too much credence to Mangum’s loud and hysterical behavior, which has been described by experts in field as atypical for a true rape victim. Finally, Levicy’s reliance on Mangum’s “demeanor and complaints of pain rather than on objective evidence” is consistent not only with Levicy’s inexperience at the time as a nurse and as a SANE, but also with her ideological bias.

As KC Johnson later noted: “This wholly subjective evaluation proved particularly troubling given Levicy’s apparent biases. As she conceded in a November [2006] interview with defense attorneys, she had never seen a woman who had claimed sexual assault behave hysterically as Mangum did during the examination. Did this atypical behavior raise alarm bells? No. Levicy, it turns out, isn’t particularly discerning in evaluating the truthfulness of a sexual assault patient’s verbal claims. When asked whether she had ever received a sexual assault report from a patient that turned out to be false, she replied, “No, never.” (10)

A Critique of Levicy’s Actions by An Experienced SANE

A SANE with many years of experience writing under the pseudonym “Kethra” evaluated the performance of Levicy and Manly in an extensive on-line post (12):

“The important part of the above is that Dr. Manly alone is responsible for the vaginal exam and Dr. Manly made ONE notation on the SANE paperwork that being “diffuse edema of the vaginal walls.” Dr. Manly did not make a note as to patient demeanor nor to the extended amount of time the vaginal exam too OR to the finding of a “white exudate.” Dr. Manly did sign the SANE as having participated but Tara Levicy, signed the SANE as the examiner. In Interviews with the DPD [Durham Police Department] she took credit for Dr. Manly’s examination and in interviews with the DPD did nothing to disabuse them of the notion she was wholly responsible for the exam. These statements were rightfully attributed to Ms. Levicy by the DPD based on what she was quoted as saying, when in fact it was the Physician’s note and examination that she was claiming as her own work.“Ms. Levicy committed one of the worst acts an RN and a SANE can commit; that of injecting her opinions and beliefs onto the patient and into the case. Ms. Levicy stepped out of her required role as an impassionate forensic examiner and into the role of a feminist with an agenda. She made stated conclusions not based on an evidence based practice, but instead based on her own personal agenda and skewed world view. Nowhere in the SANE exam or the medical examinations that occurred was there any evidence to support Ms. Levicy’s statements of “Signs consistent with sexual assault during her test.”( Himan notes). There was no evidence to support her statements to Gottlieb on March 21, “I asked her if the exam was consistent with blunt force trauma, and she replied, ‘Yes,’ ” “She stated the victim had edema and tenderness to palpitation both anally and especially vaginally. She stated it was so painful for the victim to have the speculum inserted vaginally that it took an extended period of time to insert same to conduct an examination. I asked her if the blunt force trauma was consistent with the sexual assault that was alleged by the victim. She stated the trauma was consistent with the victim’s allegation.” “Nor did the evidence support her statements made on January 10, 2007 of “"Ms. Levicy stated she asked if condoms were used and Ms. Mangum said 'no' but wasn't really sure. Ms. Levicy stated that it was her opinion as a [sexual assault nurse examiner] that 'victims can never be sure if condoms are used because if they can't see them how would they know for sure. You can't feel them so you have to realize there is always a possibility that a condom could have been used.' " Even though her own documentation denied this claim.

“Instead ALL physical examination documented, directly contradicts these ongoing claims made by Ms. Levicy. Incredibly enough, Ms. Levicy herself notes in the systems examination portion of the SANE “Head, back neck, chest, breasts, nose, throat, abdomen and upper and lower extremities were all “normal” and in the Pelvic Examination portion of the SANE Ms. Levicy writes “Diffuse edema of the vaginal walls”(echoing the actual Physicians findings since she did NOT do the vaginal exam) and recorded “nothing notable” in the subsection for the Anal exam.

“In DIRECT contradiction to not only her own notes, but those of Dr. Manly and other Physicians and nurses that examined Crystal Mangum, she [Levicy] begins telling her “she was raped” conclusion to DPD. She not only was inaccurate as a forensic examiner but she was untruthful. There is no documentation that supports her claims of “the victim had edema and tenderness to palpitation both anally and especially vaginally” (Gottlieb notes) other than Crystal Magnums’ hour long display of hysterics for the Physician which interestingly is NOT noted in Levicy’s documentation. It is somewhat beyond me that a patient could present like this and the SANE documentation indicate “nothing notable”..snipped..

“In Closing:

“Ms. Levicy’s actions were unconscionable, unprofessional and the inherent sign of an incredibly biased person and nurse. She alone, is responsible for the start of this witch hunt in my opinion. By not telling the actual facts, by misrepresenting to the police the signs and symptoms of a rape victim, by “embroidering “the true patient findings and historical story, by her sheer ignorance of appropriate forensic evidence collection technique, her sheer ignorance of basic pathophysiology, her sheer ignorance of general medical conditions and the identification of those conditions and by her glaring egotistical need to portray herself as an expert, she sent the police down the trail of deception. Combine that with a rogue prosecutor and shoddy police work (didn’t they read the stupid medical reports for themselves?) she almost put 3 innocent men in jail. “ (12)

The Civil Lawsuits Against Tara Levicy and Duke

The Cooper lawsuit (Carrington et al v. Duke et al) charges that “Defendant Tara Levicy intentionally provided the Durham [Police] Investigators information about the medical and physical evidence of rape that was false and misleading. This information was provided in repeated interviews over a long period of time with intentional or reckless disregard for the truth. The Durham Investigators expressly relied on this misinformation, and without it the rape investigation would not have occurred or would have been terminated promptly.” (C 483).

The Cooper civil lawsuit also charges that DUMC breached its duties with regard to “Levicy’s misrepresentations to the Durham Investigators and other that the medical and physical evidence was consistent with Mangum’s rape allegations; defendants’ failure to require sufficient training to its sexual assault nurse examiners and its failure to ensure that a properly trained SANE nurse examined Mangum; defendants’ failure to provide adequate supervision of Levicy and other SANE nurses; Levicy’s subsequent mischaracterizations of the medical and physical evidence to the Durham Investigators; defendants’ suppression of and/or failure to disclose exculpatory information derived from Duke’s examinations of Mangum on March 14; Arico’s public statements ratifying Levicy’s misrepresentations concerning the medical and physical evidence from Duke’s examinations of Mangum; defendants’ failure to correct Levicy’s misrepresentations…” (C 506)

“1313. At the time they made their respective public statements and statements to law enforcement falsely claiming the medical evidence supported Mangum’s accusations, Levicy and Arico each knew or should have known that such statements were false and inflammatory and likely to cause Plaintiffs harm.

“1314. At the time they fabricated the records of Mangum’s SAE and delivered them to the police investigators, Levicy and Arico knew or should have known that such conduct was likely to cause Plaintiffs harm. “1320. Arico, Manly, the PDC, DUHS and Duke University negligently supervised Defendant Levicy by failing to monitor her conduct and performance, to discipline her, retrain her, and/or terminate her employment when they knew of her propensity to abuse her status as a forensic nurse examiner to prop up or fabricate evidence to support plainly false claims of sexual assault, fabricate forensic medical records, and otherwise engage in misconduct in the performance of her duties as a SANE nurse, but instead, assigned her or acquiesced in her assignment to conduct Mangum’s SANE exam while still a SANE in training.

“1322. Arico (viz. Levicy), Manly, the PDC, DUHS and Duke University further negligently supervised Levicy and Arico by ignoring evidence demonstrating their misconduct in their public statements and statements to law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities, and instead continuing to allow Levicy to hold herself out to law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities and to the public as an expert qualified to render opinions as to observations during an SAE that she did not conduct, nor was qualified to evaluate, and, throughout the 13 month investigation, to allow Levicy and Arico to continue to proffer testimony, expert and otherwise.

“1327. Levicy, Arico, Manly, the PDC, DUHS and Duke University acted individually and in concert to manufacture false evidence and to conceal the forensic medical evidence that proved Mangum’s claims were false, for the purpose of enabling Durham Police to obtain and abuse an NTID Order, perpetuating the 13 month investigation, and in an attempt to force a trial on Mangum’s claims, placing Plaintiffs and their teammates in grave danger of wrongful convictions, which charges they knew or reasonably should have known and believed were false and not supported by probable cause.”

In Conclusion

Tara Levicy R.N. did not renew her North Carolina nursing license (inactive status as of July 25, 2007) and moved to New Hampshire in 2007. She has a New Hampshire nursing license and lives in West Lebanon, NH. It has not been confirmed where she works, but an internet page states she is running in a July, 2008 benefit for Dartmouth’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon NH (13). She faces civil legal liability in the Cooper and Ekstrand suits and is expected to be thoroughly deposed should these cases go forward. She was not named in the civil lawsuit filed by attorneys on behalf of Evans, Finnerty and Seligmann against Durham because her activities were covered by their prior confidential eight-figure settlement with Duke University.

Ms. Levicy’s actions in the attempted Duke lacrosse frame-up show how important the SANE is in the investigation of sexual assault cases. Her actions also demonstrate how inexperience and ideological bias in a SANE can be dangerous. The case also underlines the importance of good supervision and review of in-training nurses and SANEs by their superiors. Hers is a cautionary tale for all those who work in forensic medicine.

Levicy being questioned at the NC State Bar where the former Durham DA Nifong was disgraced and disbarred for his actions in indicting three innocent players over a sexual assault which never happened.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=792hIhDAGM0

14 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Thank you for this post. It raises the question to me... Isn't the culpability of DPD / DA substantially reduced if the SANE is responsible for this mess? For example, if the DPD relied on the statements of the SANE, doesn't this exonerate them? DPD / DA relied on the statements of a person that an investigator would legitimately believe to be an expert. The post indicates that the SANE changed her report based on questions posed by DPD personnel. The post does not indicate that the SANE changed her report under the direction of DPD personnel. So was there or was there not a conspiracy between the DUMC SANE and DPD / DA? If not, shouldn't this get DPD / DA off the hook?

Actually, this makes the case against the DPD and Nifong stronger, for it shows them working in league with Levicy to frame these guys. This makes the entire case for these young men and their families even more powerful.

Superb post. Well researched, well written, revealing and informative. I certainly hope there is a day of reckoning and that these intentionally malicious individuals and groups are eventually held accountable for their abhorent behavior. Steve in New Mexico

Together these last two articles show how Nifong and the DPD used Levicy to frame the Lacrosse Team. What has become "crystal" clear is that Nifong and the PD knew nothing happened and went about trying to prove something happened. Brodhead & Steel cowered down and let them do it. In fact the City of Durham Officials actively helped. This is such a dirty story. No wonder why the NC AG won't investigate.

Nifong and the police may or may not have urged Levicy to make changes to the sexual assault exam report or tailor it to take into consideration evidence extraneous to the exam, but they certainly knew that doing so was a violation of proper procedure if not obstruction of justice. Moreover, the fact that she was prepared to conform her testimony to the statements of the accuser ought even where it would have contradicted the report ought to have set off warning bells.

Despite Levicy’s embellishment of her actual role, the information that the pelvic exam was actually done by Dr. Manly because Levicy was a trainee who was unqualified to do it was revealed very early in the Hoax. Yet Nifong and the police wanted absolutely nothing to do with Dr. Manly. They never once contacted her. Nifong put Levicy on his witness list as an expert no less and left Dr. Manly off. Nifong and the police seemed to have implicitly or explicitly understood that Levicy saw her role as an advocate for the accuser and that her claims would be contradicted by Dr. Manly. Indeed, when the defense contacted Dr. Manly, that is exactly what happened.

Not contacting Dr. Manly, who actually was qualified as an expert and who had conducted numerous sexual assault exams, was just another episode in a larger pattern of failure by Nifong and the police to perform even the most routine investigation or pursue obvious leads because they knew they would uncover exculpatory evidence. Then there is all the false information that they disseminated to prop the case up, but that is a different story.

"Remarkably, this SANE nurse at one of North Carolina’s leading hospitals appeared not to understand the nature of DNA testing. When it was pointed out to her that testing could reveal DNA from even a single cell, didn’t require the presence of semen, and even could pick up microscopic contamination from Dr. Meehan—and that these tests showed no matches to any lacrosse player—Levicy confessed to being “surprised.” But she didn’t budge in her belief that a rape occurred. The wonders, evidently, of wholly subjective criteria." http://durhamwonderland.blogspot.com/2007/05/levicy-and-linwood.html

Yet no one at DUMC doesn't catch they have a idoit certified to do SANE exams?

As far as the Police goes these articles point out a conspiracy between Nifong, Gottlieb, Himan, and Levicy to frame any lacrosse player for a crime they know didn't happened. Blaming it all on the "idoit" nurse is about as true as blaming it on the "rogue" prosector. When it come to blaming I would chose

What I cannot fathom is why, after reading this report and others, the federal government refuses to open an investigation into the violation of the civil rights of the lacrosse players. While there should be a special place in hell reserved for Nifong, Levicy, Meehan,Brodhead, Steel, Wausiolek, Aleva, Moneta, Hinman, and Gottleib along with those judges who were obviously in Nifong's back pocket, that does nothing to adress the much larger problem with the administration of justice in Durham. Things never occur in a vacuum - especially something of this magnitude - there had (and I would venture to suggest there is still ongoing)to be a pattern of violation of rights for so many people to so willingly fall in line for this travesty to occur. As others have stated over and over, this is why DISCOVERY is so important and must be allowed to occur. I think any frequent reader of this blog or JinC, or KC's Durham in Wonderland knows all to well that there is something "very rotten in the state of Durham" and the tentacles of such rottenness may very well have been able to reach into other areas of North Carolina if not beyond the state's borders. That should not offer any comfort to those who live in the state and should be of great concern to those parents who are or soon will be spending vast sumes of money for their offspring to be educated at North Carolina's public and private institutions of higher learning.

Why? Because this is happening all the time. They don't want to expose their buddies who have been falsely prosecuting men since the 70's. What Tara Levicy and Michael Nifong did was perfectly consistent with the UNWRITTEN rules of the legal system, which are the rules that prosecutors follow. When Nifong says that people are treating him unfairly, he's saying that he just did what so many other prosecutors do-- go after innocent men without a shred of evidence, and usually win.

Thank you for the blog. This is happening ALL OVER America. My fiance' is fighting similar charges and as in Duke's case, they don't have a shred of evidence. Only the word of a mentally disturbed woman. All the evidence points to his innocents. I know he is innocent because I was there. We had to leave town due to police harrassment. We have paid over $100k for bail, lawyers and investigator's fees. We have lost everything. The procecutor plays on emotions and not facts. We are going to a jury trial. Procecutors have to be responsible for their actions. I am thankful for the Duke Complaint to set a precident to the American judicial system. I plan on recouping our losses after his trial is over. You give me hope.

Yeah, well those experiences Nurses find just about verything "staggering" or "stunning." One of them even wrote that Ward Churchill was getting big bucks from CO cause he had been wronged. It is not unusual at all to wirte an addendum to a report. It is date, timed, note and signed. Like Bob E's 350 page addendum to a six hundred page filing. Now, no one has seen the report except the AG and his lawyers, but the scuttle butt is that the addendum was concerned Crystal's statement that she was wiped down with a towel. The only thing that matters is the SBI lab found no DNA on the rape kit items. I would be surprised if SBI even read the report.

I welcome a nation-wide movement to stop it. 75% of cases tried are "sex cases" and imagine how many of the men are innocent. How do we stop the "Nifongs"? The Duke Complaint is a good start. I welcome any support we can get.

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John In Carolina

"He imagines himself confronted by giants."

"A well-connected and well-financed (but not, I would suggest, well-intentioned) group of individuals—most of whom are neither in nor from North Carolina—have taken it upon themselves to ensure that this case never reaches trial. (And if this seems like paranoid delusion to you, perhaps you should check out websites such as former Duke Law School graduate and current Maryland attorney Jason Trumpbour’s www.friendsofdukeuniversity.blogspot.com/, which has not only called for me to be investigated, removed from this case, and disbarred, but has also provided instructions on how to request such actions and to whom those requests should be sent."